Requiem for Lebanon

Lebanon is dying. Once again, it is being flooded with refugees; this time from Syria, many of whom will never leave. The usual explanation is that Sunni-Shia rivalry is causing the present imbroglio, Nonsense! The real cause is Islam.
To understand Lebanon, one has to admit that Lebanon is a Christian, particularly Maronite Christian, creation.
Many Maronites do not even consider themselves Arabs. They call themselves Phoenicians, the descendents of the seafarers who colonized Sicily, Spain, Italy, France, and even made it out to the British Isles. They have historically looked westward, even affiliating with Roman Catholicism, rather than local Eastern Christian sects.
When the Islamic invasion hit in the seventh century, many Eastern Christians folded like a deck of cheap cards; but the Maronites, ensconced in the snow-clad mountains of Eastern Lebanon, held out. When the Crusaders arrived, the Crusaders were stunned to find Western Christians still surviving. The Pope considered...(Read Full Article)